Cha Xiu Bao

Welcome to my blog

"I always say that chicken, pork, fish and duck are the original heroes of the board, each with a flavor of its own, each with its distinctive style; whereas sea slug and swallows nest are commonplace fellows with no character, in fact they're mere hangers-on (despite their costliness). I was once invited to a banquet given by a certain Governor, who gave each of us 4 taels of plain boiled swallows nest, served in enormous vase as huge as flower-pot. It had no taste at all. While other guests were obsequious in their praise of it, I said: 'We are here to eat swallows nest, not to take delivery of it wholesale.' If our host's object was simply to impress, it would have been better to put a hundred pearls into each bowl. Then we should have known that the meal had cost him tens of thousands, without the unpleasantness of being expected to eat the uneatable."             "Recipes of the Sui Garden" Yuan Mei 

Scccchweppes!!!

If drinking soda is wrong for real foodies, I don't want to be right!

Weightless in Central (a levitation tour for foodies)

Strong in the Rain

Ken Watanabe reading Kenji Mayazawa's "Ame ni mo makezu" (lit. strong in the rain).

not losing to the rain
not losing to the wind
not losing to the snow nor to summer's heat
with a strong body
unfettered by desire
never losing temper
cultivating a quiet joy
every day four bowls of brown rice
miso and some vegetables to eat
in everything
count yourself last and put others before you
watching and listening, and understanding
and never forgetting
in the shade of the woods of the pines of the fields
being in a little thatched hut
if there is a sick child to the east
going and nursing over them
if there is a tired mother to the west
going and shouldering her sheaf of rice
if there is someone near death to the south
going and saying there's no need to be afraid
if there is a quarrel or a suit to the north
telling them to leave off with such waste
when there's drought, shedding tears of sympathy
when the summer's cold, wandering upset
called a blockhead by everyone
without being praised
without being blamed
such a person
I want to become

Subaru for Japan!

Subaru by Tunimura Shinji

With my eyes closed, I see nothing
With sorrow in my heart, I open my eyes
A road heading for the wilderness
And nothing else other than what I see.

Ah, all you stars, destined to shatter into pieces
At least you can quietly shed a light on me

I'll go onwards, even if my cheeks turn pallid
I'll go onwards, bidding farewell to the stars

With every breath I have in my chest,
And the cold wind continues to howl
Even so, my heart holds the passion
To keep on pursuing my dream

Ah, all you stars, each nameless among many,
Glowing gloriously as you shatter into pieces

I'll go onwards, as my heart commands
I'll go onwards, bidding farewell to the stars

Ah, someday, someone will walk this road
Ah, someday, someone will walk this road

I'll go onwards, even if my cheeks turn pallid
I'll go onwards, bidding farewell to the stars.

I'll go onwards, bidding farewell to the stars

Camel Burger from Heston Blumenthal

Speaking as a foodie, this is just so timely with all the uproars over the region: a "Humpy" meal from Heston Blumenthal inspired by Lawrence of Arabia. I guess the only way for me to one-up on my man would be a horse burger a la Genghis Khan of Mongal Grassland!

Wok With Nana on WSJ

Hey Mr. Bourdain, We Can Do Better

Geez, that is a downright catchy way to start the conversation... though I can't remember saying that. Or did I say “writing a food blog is passé”? I mean, it's a bit perverse to say that when you're still trying to run a food blog yourself, no?

There's tons of things me and Nana need to patch up as we progress. But putting things into perspective, video blogging is definitely a force to the reckoned with [link of the article by Amy here]. 

Food porn will be taken to new height!

'Naked chef' to debut on Hong Kong adult channel

A Hong Kong adult channel is set to debut a cooking show headlined by a nude host who will prepare Cantonese dishes wearing a transparent apron -- an apparent bid to encourage more men to cook.

24 Hours at Amber

It was November when I first mentioned about doing a "24-hour at" kind of thing when I saw Richard popped up 2 pieces of time-lapse video for his Dutch counterparts on his Facebook page. I know we're in for some ground-breaking endeavor when Ricard jumped into the idea without any hesitation: he replied within seconds to my tease.

What followed were meetings and meetings. Stephen (my dearest production partner) and I sit down with Richard a couple times to go through the idea in details. More than talks, we literally stationed at the kitchen for a whole evening to feel it out -- we knew from the outset that it's very important to get a grip on where is the action. The point is to be at the right place at the right time for this kind of video genre. We run through shooting ideas and angles again and again at the bar off Amber (the Scotches on the house surely soothed up the brainstorming process a great deal). We even invited our friend to be the project manager and diagrammed a chart about exactly where should we be shooting during the 24 hours. The process was strenous but ultimately rewarding for we all knew we're in for some sort of history. The goal is simple: 24 hours for Amber in all its glory, under 3 minutes. Bang, a first for everyone involved. 

So here it is, I hope you can sense what I felt when you watch it. Inside the kitchen there's grace and there's awareness. A sense of where things belong and what is to be done. In kitchen jargon it is what we called the dance in the kitchen. All thing said, it's about time for a well-deserved first for Asia. Please enjoy.

Ok I'm late but it's never too late to pull the rabbit out of the hat, right?

Well, happy Chinese New Year to y'all. 

Ho ho ho!!!

I know this is no way the most captivating X'mas tree you've seen this season. But still, wish you all a healthy, warm and tasty holiday season. Merry X'mas!

Boobs of chestnut, caramel & cherry is the right amount of wrong

CXB3851
Originally uploaded by chaxiubao

NSFW... or is it too late?

A new dimension of crustiness: mini baguette (bâtard) x mini roast pork belly

A whole new level of crustiness is achieved with my mini baguette (bâtard) x mini roast pork belly (jujaibao x xiunamjai 豬仔包 x 燒腩仔). So much that I have to beg your not trying this at home lest you don't mind pants be jizzed.

But you're welcome if you figure that turn of event is worthy still once in a while. Get these: right out the oven mini baguette (bâtard) roast mini pork belly (or the crackling skins of roast suckling pig), lettuce, tomatoes and a lot of mustard. Trust me, it's fireworks for the mouth.

Oh waiter, I would also like a TV as the side

The TV side dish is one of the most overlooked dining culture in Hong Kong. Its predominancy at low to mid range dining spots (think chachaanteng, congee and noodles shop and teahouse) almost goes side by side (no pun intended, really) with chopsticks and spoons, if not more. 

Hakka indulgence for Sunday

It's Sunday and our Wok With Nana double installment of Hakka cuisine will surely make you laugh like an eight year-old. Frankly, you might as well hurt your jaws laughing if you're into Hakka cuisine playing in HD.

Anyways, it's Hakka not Hanukkah we're talking about here so do expect pork after pork after pork! On a side note, I always wonder how it would feel like to eat pork while listening to this song...

We should be thankful for tea

May you know this feeling many times... and so, we're airing a doubleheader with episodes about Chinese tea.  One with Nana visiting her friend Vivian's tea shop and getting acquainted again with her tea and the other with her giving a cooking spree with the tea just got home with. Just in case you forgot, you can always watch it the HD version of them on our home channel.